July rainfall totals quintuple first six months thanks to monsoons

July's monsoon showers produced five times as much precipitation as the first six months of the year in Prescott.

Prescott recorded a plentiful 4.87 inches of rain in July, 170 percent of the long-term average.

The official Sundog measuring site on the northeast side of the city recorded the 4.87 inches for the National Weather Service. The 116-year average is 2.87 inches. July is traditionally the second-wettest month of the year because of the monsoon, behind August's 3.18 average inches.

Displaying the variation that can occur across the landscape as the monsoon ramps up, the Prescott airport just seven miles north of Sundog recorded only 1.83 inches of rain, below its average of 2.11 inches.

Both Prescott's 4.87 inches and Flagstaff's 4.32 inches of rain rank as the 18th wettest Julys on records dating back to 1898. Alpine came in with its 6th wettest July at 6.65 inches. Records started there in 1905.

July precipitation for other Yavapai County sites included 2.44 inches at Jerome, 2.36 inches at Bagdad, 1.87 inches at Seligman, 1.85 at Camp Verde, 1.24 at Chino Valley, 0.86 at Cottonwood and 0.70 at Castle Hot Springs.

Nearly all of Prescott's July rain, 4.11 inches, fell on July 25-27. Spotters reported flooding streets as 1.63 inches fell between 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Thursday, July 24.

The rains have been a welcome change after the first six months of the year produced the third-driest year on record with a total of only 0.97 inches of rain falling at Sundog in Prescott. The city didn't get any rain at all between April 27 and July 4.

Even with the extra rain and cloud cover, July continued a steady monthly trend of being warmer than the long-term average. The average high July temperature in Prescott this year was 89.1 degrees compared to the long-term average of 88.9, while the average low last month was 62.5 degrees compared to the long-term average of 60.1.